


An Attack Is Seldom Alone

by mielipieli



Category: Batman (Comics), DCU (Comics), Titans (Comics)
Genre: Angst, Gen, Major Character Injury, some i put in aren't relevant yet, there's more characters in here than i can put in
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-29
Updated: 2019-07-22
Packaged: 2019-09-30 03:47:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,125
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17216435
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mielipieli/pseuds/mielipieli
Summary: When someone starts attacking superheroes, the community rallies around the ones being targeted.





	1. Attack on Nightwing

**Author's Note:**

> I already have the next four chapters written up but I don't know how regularly I'll be posting after that. I hope you guys enjoy this, I've worked a lot on it.

“Vicki Vale?”, Lois said with a confused look on her face as she stared at her ringing phone. 

 

Clark, who had been discussing a story with her, sighed: “Answer it. I can wait.”

 

“Thanks, babe”, Lois said before swiping to the right and holding the phone to her ear, “Lois Lane here. What has you calling me, Vicki?”

 

Clark concentrated on the ragged breathing on the other end of the line. Then there was Vicki’s voice speaking every word with great precision: “Lois. I need you to call Superman and tell him to check on Nightwing. I think something has happened.”

 

Lois’ eyes went wide. She turned to Clark and mouthed “Go!” at him. He ran through the office to the balcony where he could step into a spot that wasn’t visible from anywhere inside the office. 

 

Clark reached Blüdhaven in under a minute. Dick’s window was open and his apartment a mess. His coffee table was broken and a lamp had fallen to the ground. In the middle of the room blood all over his costume was Dick, lifelessly lying on the ground. Written on the wall behind Dick was a large red number one.

 

Clark rushed to his side and listened for his pulse. It was there, weak and irregular, but it was there. Clark let out the breath he had been holding to not interfere with his hearing and checked Dick over. His nose was definitely broken and he had been stabbed in the side by a broken glass. He also had numerous broken bones piercing internal organs.

 

Clark quickly decided that he could not do more damage by moving Dick than he would do by calling an ambulance and waiting. He carefully lifted Dick and the whimper it drew from him, was both terrifying and relieving. It was the first sign of life Dick had shown since Clark’s arrival.

 

He flew without the twists and turns he might usually throw in for fun’s sake and much more slowly than he had been on the way to Bludhaven. The faster he flew the more likely he was to have to suddenly move and that would not help Dick in his condition. 

 

The ceiling window of the JSA’s Brownstone opened as Clark hovered above it for a few seconds, probably because whoever was on duty had seen him on the cameras. As he gently lowered himself through the window, Clark could hear a gasp from his left and a glance to that direction revealed Jay Garrick. 

 

“Is the Doc here?”, Clark asked to convey the urgency.

 

Jay snapped out of it: “He’s in the medbay.” With that he was gone and Clark was certain he had gone to tell Doctor Mid-Nite that he would get a patient. 

 

When he finally got to the medbay, a bed had already been prepared. Clark put Dick down as carefully as he could but another whimper escaped his lips. For a second Clark thought his eyes had opened a bit but it could also have been a trick his mind played on him. 

 

“What happened?”, Mid-Nite questioned as he stepped to the gurney.

 

“I don’t know. As far as I can tell, he got attacked at his apartment when he got back from patrol. If you don’t need my help, I’ll try to figure it out now”, Clark said.

 

“There’s nothing you could do to help here.”

 

Clark began to move to the door. Then he turned around one more time: “Jay?” 

 

Jay looked up from the battered man.

 

“Make sure someone contacts Batman.” 

 

* * *

 

Clark knocked on the window of Vicki Vale’s apartment in Gotham. Vicki nearly dropped her glass of water from the sudden sound. Instead, she put it down on her couch table and opened the window. 

 

“How did you know?”

 

Vicki took a deep breath: “There was a hard drive on my table when I got out of the shower. There’s a video on it of someone beating the crap out of him. I think they assumed I would post it on the Gazette’s website.” She pressed the hard drive into his hand.

 

“I’m glad you didn’t”, Clark said.

 

“I want nothing to do with anyone who does something like that. Whoever did this broke into my apartment to get a public reaction. Anyone who would give that to them, should be locked up.” A look of disgust crossed her face. “Get this sick bastard before they can hurt anyone else.”

 

“We will”, Clark said. “And Ms. Vale: Thank you for calling Lois. You probably just saved Nightwing’s life.”

 

Vicki nodded and Clark was out of the window before she could reply anything else.

 

 

* * *

 

The anchorman smiled at the camera: “For a week now the superhero community has been more secretive than usual. With no sightings of a lone superhero and fewer sightings in general, more and more people on social media have been asking what is going on. When we asked Red Robin and Wonder Girl today as they walked into the JSA’s headquarters - a sight you don’t see often, folks - they only had this to say.” 

 

The show cut to the aforementioned heroes walking into the Brownstone.

 

“What can you tell us about whatever is happening in the superhero community?”, a reporter asks.

 

A snarl showed around Red Robin’s mouth and Wonder Girl put her hand on his shoulder as if to calm him down: “Look, we can’t tell you anything. If any information were to be released, we would not be the ones to do so. We would be very thankful if you could stop asking questions. If the public were in any danger, we would not hesitate to inform you but this is an internal matter.”

 

The screen showed the anchorman once more: “Wonder Girl is the first to have commented at all on the current situation but she has left us only with more questions. What counts as an ‘internal matter’? What has happened to upset the usually calm demeanor of all the members of the superhero community? And when will the public be told anything?”

* * *

“BREAKING NEWS! Just minutes ago the Metropolis Inquisitor uploaded a video of the Blüdhaven vigilante Nightwing being brutally beaten up by a masked man just after entering what we can only assume is his apartment. As the video is quite graphic, we will not be showing it on air. However, you can find it on our website. Is this the event that threw the superhero community in such a frenzy? More after our break.”


	2. Silent Knight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Previously:  
> Nightwing got attacked as he was climbing back into his apartment through the window. Vicki Vale was ‘given’ a video of the attack shortly after and called Lois Lane to inform Superman. Nightwing was gravely injured and the only clue so far is a red one on the wall of his apartment. A week has passed since then - the public questioned the noticeable changes in the superhero community’s behaviour and the Metropolis Inquisitor published the video they somehow got their hands on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to post last week but I totally forgot so here we are

“Roy, answer your phone, goddammit”, Donna mumbled and tossed her own phone on the couch.

 

“Is he still not answering?”, Wally asked.

 

“What do you think?”, Donna hissed. Then she rubbed her face. “I’m sorry, Wally.”

 

“Don’t worry about it. We’re all on edge.”

 

Garth stood up from his chair: “Do you think we should look for him?”

 

“Yeah, let’s go.”

 

* * *

 

They found Roy in an alley about 200 meters away from Donna’s apartment. He was propped up against the wall like he had barely managed to drag himself there before passing out. His prosthesis  was lying next to him, his leg was twisted in a way it definitely shouldn’t be and his face was beginning to swell. Blood was slowly trickling out of his mouth, whether from a wound in his mouth or internal bleeding Donna couldn’t tell. But the worst of it all: A large two was painted on the wall above him in dark red. Donna hoped it was pig’s blood like in Dick’s apartment and not… well.

 

“Fuck”, Wally said. Donna didn’t see him move but he was at Roy’s side. “He’s breathing.”

 

Donna felt her brain unfreeze. Her hand activated her comm: “Troia to Watchtower.”

 

“This is the Watchtower”, Diana’s voice said.

 

“Arsenal was attacked at my current location. He needs immediate medical attention and the crime scene needs to be secured.”

 

“I will take care of it.”

 

The line went silent. 

 

“How is he?”, Donna asked carefully.

 

Wally and Garth were both leaning over Roy, and Garth turned to look at her: “We’re unsure. We can’t risk moving him but his pulse and breathing are regular, if weak.”

 

Donna heard her comm crackle to life: “Watchtower to Troia.”

 

“Troia here.”

 

“Green Lantern should be there in less than a minute. Two of you should stay at the scene until Zatanna and Mr Terrific arrive.” Diana paused for a moment. “Is it…”

 

“There’s a two painted on the wall”, Donna answered before the question could be completed.

 

“We will find out who did this.”

 

“I know. Thank you, Diana”, Donna said but all she felt was crippling fear because this was two of her oldest friends being injured. Two of her companions, her comrades, her teammates, her family members. And if the numbers were any indication, then they weren’t going to be the last.

 

“Oh, shit”, a voice said from behind Donna. 

 

Donna whirled around only to see Kyle floating closer.

 

* * *

 

“We are live from the Justice Society’s Headquarters where just moments ago the Flash rushed in through the front door. Everyone here is now wondering what had the Justice League and Titans member in such a hurry”, a news anchor announced.

 

Suddenly, shouting began to erupt around her. People behind her seemed to be pointing at the sky and the camera followed them shakily.

 

“We have a new development”, the anchor continued without being seen. “One of the Green Lanterns is flying towards the Brownstone and seems to be carrying someone on a kind of stretcher. We can only guess what is happening but is seems as though there has been a second attack.”

 

The camera followed the Green Lantern until he vanished on top of the building. 

 

* * *

 

“Dick was the first sidekick, Roy the second”, Donna said her arms crossed.

 

They were sitting in the Brownstone’s living room. Them being Donna, Wally, Garth and Jason. No one quite knew what Jason was doing there but Tim had brought him through an underground access while visiting Dick. He’d been there when Kyle had brought Roy in and was now waiting with them.

 

Wally’s face didn’t move from his hands: “You don’t know that that’s what’s happening. This could be about them being Titans, it could be about non-powered superheroes. We don’t know anything.”

 

“Numbering doesn’t make sense if they’re going through either of those.”

 

“Dick was part of the first Titans, Roy joined in the second wave with you.”

 

“Shut up”, Jason said.

 

They both looked at him.

 

“This doesn’t help anyone. Roy is in surgery, Dick is in a coma, and B and the others are actually investigating instead of having a stupid discussion.” Jason stood up. “I’m going home.” 

 

Donna felt like she should say something. Be the emotionally mature person. She didn’t really know how to at the moment.

 

“Stay”, Garth said instead. 

 

Jason whirled around in anger. Wally actually looked up from his hands in surprise. Garth hadn’t said anything since they had gotten here. He had always been the kind of person who bore his pain in silence. 

 

“You don’t want to sit here and wait. It will not help to sit at home and wait. You are worried about Roy and you will get information on his condition much sooner if you stay.” He looked at Wally, then at Donna. “Jason is right. You are fighting about something you cannot confirm. Either we talk peacefully or we do not talk.”

 

They ended up not talking much. Someone said something every few minutes but otherwise the room was silent. A few JSA members walked through once in a while but none of them stayed even though it was their living room.

 

“How is he?”, a girl’s voice suddenly asked the room and Donna whirled around. 

 

It was Mia standing at the door. Dinah had a hand on her shoulder and looked somber. She looked older with all of that worry painted on her face in deep lines.

 

Donna forced herself to banish the negative emotions of the past few hours and spoke softly: “We haven’t gotten word from Doctor Mid-Nite, yet. I’m sorry. You’re welcome to join us.”

 

Dinah nodded at her: “Ollie, Connor and Emiko should get here in an hour.”

 

“Sit down”, Wally said offering up the empty seating. “It could still be a while before there’s any news.”

 

* * *

 

Bruce shifted in his chair in front of the Batcomputer. He’d just been informed that Arsenal was stabilised and would most likely wake up in the next 48 hours. He wasn’t completely out of the woods, though. Bruce was looking at the video that had just been published despite the US government declaring it illegal for endangering a federal investigation.

 

The batcomputer interrupted the video with an incoming call. Squire, it said. Bruce accepted: “How can I help you, Squire?”

 

A loud sob broke through Bruce’s thoughts about what she could need: “He’s dead. Someone killed Cyril!”

 

Bruce’s mind raced. Cyril had been one of the first child sidekicks. The third one of those still alive. Right after Roy Harper. Dick had been the first. With his murder happening just hours after the attack on Arsenal, a coincidence was highly unlikely.

 

“Beryl, this is important. Is there something on the wall?”

 

“Yes, a three. I think it’s painted in blood... Do you think this has something to do with the attack on Nightwing?”

 

Smart girl. She’d been in the hero business a long time now. 

 

“We’ll figure it out. I’ll be there in ten minutes, okay?”

 

“I’ll activate the locator on my comm.”

 

The line went silent and Bruce selected Clark from his recent calls.

 

“Bruce?”

 

“Knight has been murdered. I need you to bring me to London.”

 

Within seconds Clark was standing next to him and Bruce bit his tongue.

 

“Is it…”

 

“I think so.”

 

“Do you need to take anything else?”

 

“No, I’ll call for the others once we’re there.”

 

 

* * *

 

 

“Another attack on a superhero. This time in London, England. The Knight, British member of Batman Incorporated, has been killed. His partner, the Squire, was seen earlier this evening on a building with Batman and Superman.This attack disrupts what was previously thought to be about the Titans as both Arsenal and Nightwing were members of the original team.”

 

Wally turned off the TV: “Well, if Donna’s right - and it looks like she is - then I’m next.”

 

Dinah glared at him: “Don’t even joke about that.”

 

“He’s not wrong”, Jason said. “And then it would be Garth, Bette, Donna.”

 

“So your theory is sidekicks.”

 

“Ollie!”, Dinah protested.

 

“Child sidekicks”, Garth corrected. Everyone turned to him questioningly. “Captain Marvel’s uncle wasn’t attacked.”

 

“That just means we need to make sure you’re safe”, Dinah tried to change her approach. “All three of you”, she pointed at Donna, Garth and Wally individually, “should stay at either the Watchtower or Brownstone. And do any of you know where Bette Kane is at the moment?”

 

Donna shook her head: “I haven’t heard from her in a few years but Gar will probably know.”

 

* * *

 

“The attacks are too close together. This is either a group, someone with powers or someone with incredible technology”, Bruce pointed out.

 

Diana nodded: “All three of them are fantastic fighters and the videos suggest there only being one person. Whether there are or aren’t more people behind it, beating any of them one of them would require great planning, skill and/or strength.”

 

“They don’t seem to care whether their victim dead or alive.”

 

Clark pushed his glasses up to pinch his nose: “Please don’t call them victims, Bruce .”

 

Bruce crossed his arms and Clark sighed. Bruce was never going to change the way he talked about crimes - even when family was involved. 

 

“The only reason Cyril died was because no one checked up on him”, Bruce continued. “If we hadn’t foolishly assumed this to be limited to America, he would have survived.”

 

“We will not make the same mistake twice, Bruce. Do you have any ideas on a motive?”

 

“Revenge or a moral stance seem to be the most likely but there is no evidence of either.”

 

* * *

 

“How are you doing, Donna?”

 

Donna flinched slightly and looked up to see Leslie Thompkins. While Dick was in a coma, there always had to be a medical professional in the medbay. Leslie and Pieter took turns. Donna shot her as good a smile as she could manage. It was somehow ruined because her eyes drifted off towards Roy. He had woken up a few times the day before.

 

“He will be okay”, Leslie said calmly. “There’s little to no risk of any complications at this point.”

 

Donna knew that already. Pieter had told her as much earlier but hearing it from another source made it feel more real.

 

“What about Dick?”, Donna asked carefully.

 

“The swelling has gone back but until he wakes up, we can’t say for sure whether he has brain damage.”   
  


Yeah, Donna knew that, too. She wasn’t quite sure why she had expected a different answer. 

 

“Thank you”, she said nevertheless.

 

Leslie smiled at her sadly and put a comforting hand on her shoulder for a moment before she went over to Dick and began checking him over once more. Donna watched her practiced movements and let her thoughts drift to other things once more. 

 

“Dick, can you hear me?”, Leslie asked suddenly and Donna whipped up her head. She must have fallen asleep for a moment.

 

Dick’s heart monitor sped up a bit and he made some kind of pained noise. Donna wasn’t quite sure whether it was a groan or wince.

 

“You’re at the JSA Brownstown. Everything is fine. Relax”, Leslie said and Dick’s heart rate slowed down some.

 

It evened out completely within a few more seconds and Leslie seemed to let out a relieved sigh. Her eyes wandered to Donna and when she saw Donna look at her, Leslie gave her an earnest smile.

 

 

* * *

 

Roy had been drifting in and out of consciousness for a while before he managed to stay awake longer than a minute. He was in the dark med bay of the JSA as far as he could tell, next to the bed Dick had been in. Still was, Roy thought from the shape. Between them stood someone dressed in dark clothing. 

 

“Hello?”, Roy asked. It came out slurred and wrong but the person turned towards Roy.

 

Their face was covered with a ski mask and Roy finally spotted a knife in their hand. Panicked, he looked at who they were apparently leaning over. Wally. Roy knew how each of his friends slept next to hospital beds and he knew that messy hair and the nervous rhythm being tapped out with a foot even when asleep.

 

That person was trying to kill Wally, Roy realized. He panicked and heard a beeping sound speed up. 

 

“Wally!”, he said as loudly as he could. His hand quickly went to the button that called Doctor Mid-Nite. It hurt, the small movement. “Wally! Wally! Wally! Wally!” His chest burned and his vision almost blacked out completely from the pain. 

 

Suddenly, the oxygen mask was gone and a hand pressed onto his mouth. Roy felt tears run down his face before he drifted off into unconsciousness.

* * *

 

Wally woke up to a voice saying his name. At least he thought it was his name: The words were slurred and almost inaudible because of the too fast beeping of a heart monitor. Wally’s eyes flew open and he jumped to his feet. There was someone leaning over Roy. 

 

He threw the punch without even thinking about it. The person stumbled, went down and dissolved into mist. Wally stared at the floor for a moment before he remembered them leaning over Roy. He quickly turned to him and looked at the screen. Still beating. Footsteps echoed through the hallway outside and Wally was glad when Doctor Mid-Nite looked inside. 

 

“What happened?”, he asked as he began checking Roy over.

 

Wally nodded: “There was an attacker. They were leaning over Roy when I woke up. I don’t know what happened but they just vanished.”


	3. Titans on the Watchtower

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Previously:
> 
> Roy Harper was attacked in an alley on his way to Donna Troy’s New York apartment, again there was a red number on the wall, this time a two. He was transported to the JSA Brownstone for treatment. Batman was informed by Squire that the Knight was killed in his apartment, a red three was painted on the wall. This cemented the theory that child sidekicks were the ones being attacked. At night when Wally West was the only one in the medbay except for the injured Dick Grayson and Roy Harper, someone attempted to kill him in his sleep and teleported away after that plan being foiled.
> 
> It’s been two weeks since the first attack.

 

“They weren’t there to kill Arsenal.”

 

“Yeah, I figured that one out myself, thank you very much”, Jason said his voice sharp.

 

Wally shot him a glare. Okay, maybe it wasn’t really that necessary to be mean to someone who had literally just found out they were barely saved from being stabbed to death. Jason could manage to feel slightly bad about it. Not too bad, though, because he really couldn’t stand West.

 

“Hopefully they can’t teleport to space”, Kara said. 

 

Babs looked up from the computer: “Just because you think there’s no reason for you being here, doesn’t mean you should say things like that.”

 

“There _ is  _ no reason for my being here.”

 

“We don’t know what their definition of sidekick is. You could easily fall into the category just because of your alias”, Babs argued calmly. “And don’t you dare say something like that to any of the teens.” She looked back at her computer, then activated her communicator: “Beast Boy, do you have anything on Flamebird’s location, yet?” Pause. “Tell me when you do.”   
  


The room got very quiet for the next ten minutes.

 

Then, Wally sighed: “I’m going to check on Dick and Roy and then get something to eat. Either of you want to join me?”

 

It seemed like a peace offering. And the way Wally looked at Jason expectandly made it obvious, it was intended for him. Jason rolled his eyes, happy they weren’t visible under the helmet.

 

“Fine”, he said. It would probably only help them get away from the watchtower if Babs got some actual time to work.

 

“I’ll come with you as well”, Kara declared in a remarkably friendly tone for how pissed she’d been since the big blue boyscout had dropped her off. 

 

Actually, Jason thought he might remember something Dick had said about them getting along pretty well. They were close enough that Dick invited her to the Justice League during his tenure as Batman. 

 

When they left the room, Jason tried to ignore Babs’ relieved sigh.

 

* * *

 

As they were stepping through the door of the medbay, Wally heard a breathless, pained laugh. Roy. That was Roy. Who was apparently awake enough to laugh about something. 

 

“Hey, guys!”, Donna called at them with a wide smile that Wally had been missing these last two weeks. 

 

Wally smiled at her before stopping at the foot of Roy’s bed: “Now, what exactly do you have to laugh about, Harper?”

 

Roy smirked at him. Wally assumed it was a smirk, at least because what Roy did manage looked more like a pained smile. His eyes were sunken, his face ashen but Wally only ever felt like something was seriously wrong when Roy stopped laughing about stuff. 

 

“Been deader.”

 

Jason let out a snort behind Wally: “Stop stealing my jokes, Harper. You didn’t even die once.”

 

“Sorry”, Roy paused to catch his breath. “I’ll think of my own… when I’m all healed up.”

 

As Jason retorted - probably something equally sassy -, Wally turned to Donna: “Where did Garth go?”

 

Donna grimaced: “They still haven’t found Lorena.”

 

Damn. Only four people hadn’t responded to the emergency message sent out as soon as they had realized sidekicks were in danger: Red Devil, Flamebird, Rocket and Aquagirl. As far as Wally knew, Garth and the second Aquagirl had never been - and weren’t now - particularly close but as Aquaman’s oldest partner, Garth probably still felt like he was responsible for her. Even when Wally had  _ strongly _ disliked Bart - back when he’d still been Impulse - he’d been worried about him whenever something had happened to Young Justice. 

 

“Any news at all?”, he asked.

 

“None so far. He went outside ten minutes ago when Arthur called his communicator.”

 

Yeah, that could mean anything. From him being informed of new problems to Garth just helping out with something. 

 

“Did Dick wake up again?”, Wally asked instead of pursuing the topic further - a topic, which Donna most likely couldn’t tell him anything more on. 

 

The corners of Donna’s mouth pulled up a bit: “He did. Mumbled something about stopping Damian from doing something stupid.”

 

“Yeah, last thing I heard he vanished into the depths of the watchtower with Jon. That might become our problem in a few hours or days.” He looked down at Dick with his IVs and the oxygen mask and the monitor beeping around him. At least he had all those painkillers. “How is Roy dealing with the pain?”, Wally asked as quietly as possible.

 

“Raven came by earlier. She’ll take some of the pain off Roy’s chest for about six hours at a time. It’s not perfect but it’s helping some.”

 

Wally looked back at Roy and realized he’d drifted off already. 

 

* * *

 

When they entered the Watchtower’s canteen, Wally quickly spotted Tim, Steph, Cass and who he guessed were Harper and Duke in a corner together. He hadn’t been quite sure whether they would be sitting together since it seemed natural for Tim to be with his friends but Wally could understand the need to be close to his family in a time like this. 

 

Once he’d gotten his food, Wally also saw that Squire, whose name was like a weird mix of Barry and her newly deceased mentor Cyril. Baril? Something like that. Wally hadn’t actually met her.

 

Wally let his eyes slide over the crowd of most of the former and current sidekicks. He spotted Bart in a corner with Cassie and Kon. As far as Wally could see, he seemed to be doing alright. Connor, Mia and Emiko were nowhere to be seen and if they were lucky, the three were just on their way to visit Roy in the medbay or training and not doing something dangerous or reckless. Wally still had some faith - more like hope - in Connor. 

 

He was pulled from his thoughts on the different groups sitting there when Jason and Kara pulled past him, busy in conversation. They were headed straight for the table with Cassie, Bart and Kon. Probably more Kara’s decision than Jason’s, although he must not have been too unhappy that she didn’t want to sit with his family. Jason seemed to get along with all of them pretty alright when it was just one other person but groups usually led to verbal or physical violence. 

 

Wally looked back at the Bats. He felt a bit responsible for them. Like he had to make sure they were alright as a duty to his best friend. Okay, duty made it sound kind of bad. It was more that he _wanted_ to make sure they were alright.

 

“Is this seat still free?”, Wally asked once he got to their table - it felt like an eternity because he didn’t really want his pasta to end up on the floor - to both keep from startling them and to simply be polite.

 

_ “All yours _ ”, Cass signed at him, the only one seemingly not at least torn a little from their thoughts by Wally’s arrival.

 

“Bluebird, Signal and Squire, right?”, Wally asked looking at the respective teenagers. “Hi, I’m Wally.”

 

“Hi”, Squire said and Bluebird nodded at him.

 

Duke Thomas, the newest addition to the Wayne household, seemed a little more flashed - yes, Wally thought he was hilarious, thank you very much - by Wally’s arrival: “Warn me next time a JLA member is going to suddenly appear, okay?”

 

“I’m not in the Justice League anymore”, Wally said and stuffed a fork of spaghetti into his mouth.

 

“You were for most of the time I actually remember growing up.”

 

Squire cleared her throat after a few moments of awkward silence: “It’s Beryl, by the way. I decided not to bother with secret ID up here.” 

 

She wasn’t actually wearing a mask or any other identity concealing measures. It was kind of weird that Wally hadn’t noticed.

 

“Good idea”, Wally admitted. “I hope all of you aren’t planning on wearing your costumes every second you’re up here because that could take a while.” He raised his eyebrows at the rest of the group and pointed at them individually with a fork.

 

Tim snorted but didn’t object. Wally could count that as a win.

 

* * *

 

“How is the investigation going?”, Donna asked when two minutes after she had entered the monitor room, Babs still hadn’t responded to her hello.

 

Babs looked up at her with slightly glassy eyes, then sighed while looking through a stack of paper files: “I’m not supposed to tell any of you anything.” She said after she had apparently found the file she’d been looking for. Her arm extended towards Donna with the file in her hand.

 

Donna grinned at her: “Tell Batman to go fuck himself.”

 

Babs’ eyes lost their glassiness and a grin spread on her face: “Will do. Definitely will do.” Then, her face went serious: “Make sure the file doesn’t get to any of the newer heroes. I trust Garth, Wally and you not to leap to false conclusions and only give the others information that will cause neither a mass panic nor a riot.”

 

Donna nodded at her with her smile having softened a bit: “Don’t forget to sleep.”


	4. Password: Warehouse

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Previously:   
> All sidekicks (ex and current) were confined to the Watchtower. Oracle is working from the monitor room. Roy Harper and Dick Grayson are slowly getting better with the help of both magic and medicine. Oracle gave Donna Troy a file on the progress of the investigation. Aquagirl, Rocket, Red Devil and Flamebird haven’t been found, yet.  
> Two weeks and one day have passed since the first attack.

“Come on, Ollie.”

 

Dinah was tired. She hadn’t slept much these last few days - two weeks if she was actually being honest - and there just wasn’t any new information. She felt like she was slowly sinking into quicksand and no one could help her because Ollie was stuck here, too. 

 

“Let’s go, pretty bird”, he said but his smile didn’t reach his eyes. 

 

They still had to patrol. Fucking patrol. Dinah jumped off the rooftop and onto the next one. It was weird to not hear a whoop, a quip or senseless banter in her ear. Usually, Dinah would be happy to have the kids at home for once. Or off with their friends. Usually, it was a good thing - at least when there weren’t any injuries but those were hardly as common as one would think. 

 

Dinah’s communicator beeped a few rooftops later and Ollie looked at her expectantly. When they were on patrol together, he got her messages as well. That way he could answer things like emergency signals even when they came through her birds of prey channel. 

 

Dinah tapped the button on her neck: “Black Canary.”

 

“Canary, this is Oracle. I have a lead in Star City. Do you have time to check it out or should I send someone else?”, Bab’s familiar but professional voice filled her with warmth. Just like the fact that this was important enough to warrant sending someone from another city.

 

“Give us the details and we’ll check it out.”

 

Dinah saw Ollie tap his comm and heard the short beep that meant he had entered the channel.

 

* * *

 

“Can you send us the energy signature?”, Ollie asked the comm as they watched they just finished rounding the warehouse.

 

Dinah took out her modified infrared binoculars. Modified because normally they couldn’t see through walls but with Clark’s x-ray vision, which did work through walls, as a guide, Bruce had figured how to modify their scanners. Still, nothing was showing up. Either the building was devoid of people or it blocked the radiation out. 

 

“Rooftop or door?”, Dinah asked still checking whether minor frequency modulation might change something. 

 

“Rooftop. I don’t want to risk any traps.”

 

The rooftop was, well the rooftop of a warehouse. Not particularly interesting: There was corrugated steel and some windows. Honestly, at this point Dinah had seen so many warehouses from any possible angle that the idea of describing one seemed incredibly obsolete. 

 

They stood at one of the windows, Ollie a few steps back. Dinah glanced at him to make sure he was prepared for her to unleash her canary cry, and, when she was sure he was, shattered the window. As soon as she stopped her cry, Ollie moved closer and used the prepared rope to lower himself into the building. He nodded at Dinah as soon as he touched down, then quickly knocked an arrow and looked around while Dinah followed him.

 

The warehouse was nearly empty. There were no shelves standing around or anything else that would hinder their line of sight. Only one corner of the warehouse seemed to have been in use recently: Right in the corner lay a sleeping mat and sack and a few meters away hung a tall planning board. Dinah sighed in relief. This was probably actually going to get them somewhere. 

 

Ollie had already lowered his bow, when Dinah reached the ground. There was obviously no one there. Ollie stared at the board somewhat transfixed, although it was too far to actually tell what was on there. Dinah lightly squeezed his shoulder and got a small, sad smile and a deep breath.

 

Most of the board was filled with pictures with small, neat lines of handwriting underneath. It started in the upper left corner with a picture of Nightwing and Dick Grayson with the following written underneath: “Nightwing/ Dick Grayson. Metahuman abilities: none. Skills: Martial arts. Tactics. Gymnastics.” On the pictures a red one had been drawn. 

 

To its right followed Roy. Dinah forced herself not to look too closely at those photos. Then, there was Cyril, Wally and Garth. Dinah read through Wally’s and Garth’s text carefully, especially the metahuman abilities to see how precise the information was. As it turned out: Too precise for her own comfort. 

 

“Fuck”, Ollie suddenly declared. “Fuck. Fuck. We fucked up.”

 

Dinah followed his eyes: There, right next to Garth’s picture, hung a single picture of Snapper Carr. She hadn’t noticed it because she’d been so intent on not letting this whole awfulness get to her. But that was Snapper Carr, who had undeniably been the Justice League’s sidekick and about whom they had completely forgotten. 

 

* * *

 

“It’s only sensible to keep anyone who is or used to be a sidekick safe as long as there is danger”, the only woman in the TV discussion said.

 

A man sitting two chairs to her left sighed and threw his hands up in the air: “This is precisely the reason there shouldn’t be any sidekicks.”

 

“What about all the times the Teen Titans, now or past, have saved the world?”, she threw at him.

 

The host tried to intervene but was drowned out by the reply: “Just because they stopped a threat doesn’t mean it wouldn’t have been stopped without them. And half the threats are their own faults. Just look at Trigon!”

 

“Please…”, the host tried again.

 

“Do you honestly think a major demon like Trigon wouldn’t have become a problem at some point? From what we’ve heard about the first incident, the Justice League didn’t listen to Raven when she came to them.”

 

“Those are very disputed rumors. Not a single member of the JLA at that time said anything about them!”

 

“Would you, if you were accused of endangering the entire world!”

 

“Ms. Brand, Mr. Parker, please quiet down”, the host said. The woman, Ms. Brand, looked at him like he was an ant who had decided to step onto her plate. More of the show was not aired.

 

* * *

 

“We still haven’t found Flamebird, Rocket or Aquagirl, either.”

 

“I thought we _ knew _ where Flamebird was?”, Dinah asked incredulously. 

 

“We thought we did. Beast Boy said she was in Tokyo and she hasn’t left on a plane or train but neither Superman and Batwoman nor Beast Boy and Cyborg have found anything so far”, Bruce was obviously very displeased with that.

 

Ollie crossed his arms next to her: “What about Rocket and Aquagirl?”

 

“Icon is off-world and so far our hope is that Rocket is with him. She could hardly be safer here. I don’t know much about the search for Aquagirl. Most of it is in and around Atlantis but they don’t know where she is, yet. Red Devil, on the other hand, we found yesterday. He was on a hiking trip with some friends and reported in once he saw the message on his Teen Titans reserve communicator.”   
  


At least one person found. Of the four they were looking for. Dinah really didn’t like the question she needed to ask.

 

“How high do you rate the danger for each of them?”

 

Bruce sighed, his shoulders sagged slightly. He looked more tired than Dinah felt.

 

“We don’t know anything. We don’t know whether we’re talking about one person or a whole group. Whether those teleportation powers are meta, alien or technological. Why they are doing this in the first place. An accurate rating is difficult. But if I were to give my best guess…”, Bruce sighed.

 

“High. Especially for Carr and Flamebird. They were number 6 and 7 respectively. Just after Flash and Tempest. There doesn’t seem to be a reason why we can’t find them. They should be easy to track down. We have phone numbers, addresses. Arsenal and Nightwing nearly died, Knight did die and we knew where they were at the time.”

 

Dinah felt a bit like punching Bruce. It was an accurate assessment, she knew, but she didn’t want to have anyone talk about her  _ son _ like that. 

 

Instead Dinah forced her voice to be soft: “We’re going to the Watchtower now to visit Roy and see how the others are doing. Do you want to accompany us?”

 

“I have work to do”, Bruce said and turned back to the batcomputer.

 

Dinah was about to say something when Ollie spoke up for the first time: “Bruce… your children need you. Don’t let them feel like you’re abandoning them.”

 

“I’m making sure they’re safe”, Bruce said firmly. 

 

“Then tell them that. They must be scared out of their minds up there”, Ollie almost started yelling but took a deep breath. “Just come with us, see how Dick is doing, talk to your other children and work with Barbara from the Watchtower for a while. Maybe you’ll see something together that you both missed on your own.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I looked through DC wiki to find out whether Bette and Bruce are cousins and this is what I found: Bruce and Kate are cousins through the Kane family. Kate and Bette are cousins. Since they are both Kanes we can assume, this is also through the Kane family. Martha and Jacob Kane had another sibling, Philip. We don’t know whether Philip had children and also he used to be a Wayne before the New52. Basically who the fuck are Bette’s parents and why isn’t she listed as Bruce’s cousin when she obviously is?


	5. Safe Haven?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Previously: 
> 
> Green Arrow and Black Canary found a planning board in a warehouse in Star City. On it was information on all the sidekicks. Rocket, Flamebird and Aquagirl are still missing.
> 
> Two weeks and one day have passed since the first attack.

“Bruce!”, Dick’s voice slurred excitedly as he stepped into the room.

 

He looked better than he had yesterday. Still pale, still tired but grinning lazily and lying on four pillows if Bruce was counting correctly - most likely on a lot of morphine. On the bed to his left Roy was sleeping peacefully. On his right side Cass was sitting with a book. Bruce smiled at her and got a careful smile back.

 

“How are you doing, chum?”, he asked Dick and carefully petted his hair. Dick sank even further into his mountain of pillows.

 

“Cass’s read’ng to me.”

 

There were murmurs to Bruce’s right as Dinah and Ollie talked to Doctor Mid-Nite in hushed tones. 

 

“That’s very nice of her.”

 

“Cass’s very”, he rolled the ‘r’ in very, “good at read’ng.”

 

“Is she doing the voices?”

 

“Yeah”, Dick said and laughed happily.

 

Bruce couldn’t keep himself from chuckling and saw Cass grin at him as if in total bliss.

 

_ “Is everything okay?” _ , Bruce signed at her as Dick’s eyes slid shut.

 

_ “Raven aided his healing. He seems much better now.” _

 

Bruce switched back to using his voice: “I meant with you.”

 

Cass smiled softly at him:  _ “I am all good. Siblings are exhausting.” _

 

“Oh, you all are”, Bruce laughed. “Don’t think I don’t know you were the one to paint the bikes purple last month.”

 

_ “It was Steph’s birthday” _ , Cass shrugged like there was nothing she could have done about it.

 

* * *

 

“Look what Oracle gave me”, Donna announced as she stepped into Wally and Garth’s room in the Watchtower. 

 

There weren’t enough rooms for everyone to have their own, so some people were staying together. Garth and Wally could probably have gotten away with taking a room each - seniority and everything - but it had seemed unfair to force people who didn’t know each other very well to stay together.

 

“What is it?”, Garth asked.

 

“All collected data. She had it prepared already.”

 

Wally grinned: “You know, sometimes I forget why she was Lian’s favorite superhero but then she does something like this.”   
  


Donna felt a wave of sadness flow over her. God, she missed that little munchkin. She’d been more in touch with her emotions at age five than any of the adults in Titans Tower at the time. 

 

Donna cleared her throat: “She also said  that she doesn’t want us to dole out any of this information.”

 

“Of course.”

 

 

* * *

 

 

Babs was working peacefully in the monitor room. Well, as peacefully as possible with the incessant beeping of a thousand alarms around her. A new louder beeping started behind her and Babs turned around angrily. She kind of hated how everything here was different from the clocktower. 

 

Her eyes found the blinking alarm on the screen: “Oh, shit”, she murmured. 

 

“Intruder alert. Deck 15, rooms 11 to 15”, the red writing said. 

 

Babs went through the room list in her head. Those were sleeping quarters. Guest quarters, to be precise. Room 11: Cass and Steph. Room 12: Beryl. Room 13: Wally and Garth. Room 14: Jason. Room 15: Connor Hawke. If she had to guess, Babs would say the room in question was number 13. Wally and Garth were the next ones on the list, after all. 

 

It took Babs about two seconds to sort through that information and decide on a course of action: “Oracle to Black Canary, Batman and Green Arrow. We have an intruder alert on deck 15.”

 

“Batman to Oracle. On my way. Black Bat is with me. Do you have a visual?”

 

“BC and GA. On our way, as well”, Dinah started as soon as Bruce was done. 

 

Babs took a deep breath: “No visual. Nothing going on in the hallway. Intruder must be in one of the living quarters but emergency overrides for the cameras aren’t working. Sensors indicate room 11 to 15. I suspect room 13, currently housing Tempest and Flash III. I believe both of them, as well as Troia, to be in there.”

 

“Any loss of air pressure?”, Bruce asked. 

 

“None. No sensors outside of that area went off and no airlock was activated. Teleportation seems likely.”

 

There was silence for half a minute before Oliver’s voice was audible: “Arriving at section entrance one.”

 

“Batman and Black Bat will be there in twenty seconds tops. Wait for them before going in”, Babs ordered. 

 

As much as it pained her to keep them from going in right now, the odds of success were much higher if they waited for the other two. Babs just hoped she wasn’t dooming any of the Titans with her decision. 

 

“Here”, Black Bat said as her and Batman’s communicators showed them entering the hallway.

 

Babs checked the screens one last time and pulled up all of the camera feeds - even though the ones in room 13 still weren’t working: “No change. Go in carefully.”

 

She opened the hallway door and watched as they all walked in, weapons in hand. She sighed in relief as they were shown in the hallway. She had checked whether the footage was looped and it hadn’t seemed to be, but it was always in the realm of possibility for her to be mistaken.

 

They stopped at the door to room 13 for a few seconds, preparing themselves for a battle, then Batman gave her the sign to open the door. Immediately, Cass, who was standing at the front of the group, jumped inside. Green Arrow stayed outside the room, his arrow quickly aiming at something or someone inside, as Batman and Black Canary ran inside just moments after Cass. Babs held her breath as she waited for anyone to tell her anything about what was going on. 

 

“Batman to Oracle, intruder teleported away. Any new alarms?”   
  


Babs checked manually - even though an alert should and most likely would have popped up if there was any - and took a deep breath: “None. Intruder has left the Watchtower. Can you give me a visual?”

 

They would tell her how the Titans were, once they knew. If there were medical emergencies, they would already have told her to call Doctor Mid-Nite in. Everything was fine, Babs told herself but her heartrate would not slow down. 

 

Finally, fucking finally, the cameras in the living quarters came on her screens. 

 

* * *

 

“Here you go”, Dinah said as she draped the warm towels around Garth.

 

He looked exhausted. His lips were cracked, his eyes sunken in and he was shaking so much his teeth were chattering. Garth tried to smile at her but it was sorely lacking.

 

“We’ll get you to the saltwater pool in a minute, okay?”

 

“I…”, Garth cleared his throat and continue with a hoarse voice, “I will be able to walk in a few minutes.”

 

Dinah doubted she would let him. That he thought so, was still a good sign. She would be able to leave him alone for a moment: “I’ll be back in a moment, okay?”

 

Garth nodded. Dinah smiled at him one more time, then turned around for a moment. Donna was in the worst condition of them all. The worst condition was nowhere near life threatening. She was currently laughing at Ollie’s truly stupid impressions of different politicians as he wrapped the bullet wound in her shoulder in gauze for the trip to the medbay. 

 

Wally was caught in a stasis field. In front of him Bruce was kneeling, with a tiny screwdriver in hand, looking more and more grumpy by the second. Dinah kind of felt like laughing. The watchtower had been infiltrated, three of the most competent superheroes had been eliminated by the assailant in an incredibly short amount of time and then the assailant had escaped by teleporting away. Still, there had been an attack and no one had been seriously injured. Their two wounded were going to alright and they had at least found one of their four missing people.

 

* * *

 

“No training or fighting for at least a week. Daily check-ups. You know the drill”, Doctor Mid-Nite said looking a bit skeptical about whether Donna would actually follow his orders. 

 

“Will do, Doc.”

 

He sighed: “Now, let’s check you over”, he said turning to Wally. 

 

Wally grimaced: “I’m fine…”

 

Donna chuckled and got up from the bed she’d been lying on while being stitched up. Dick and Roy were looking at her with questioning looks. No one had explained to them what had happened, yet. Priorities and so on. She was kind of surprised they’d been so patient. Although that might have been because of the gunshot wound. Those usually caused priorities to become clear pretty quickly. 

 

Donna wasn’t actually sure why Wally hadn’t told them. He was probably more worn out by what had happened than he had realized. She sat down on the chair between Roy’s and Dick’s beds.

 

“What happened?”, Roy asked. 

 

Now that she was closer to them, Donna could see that Dick’s eyes were a bit glassy from the meds. Roy, on the other hand was very clearly present. Donna looked over her shoulder to make sure the Doc wasn’t too close and then started relatively quietly: 

 

“There was an intruder. They teleported themselves up here. Had us down in seconds.”

 

“Who’s us?”, Roy asked.

 

“Garth, Wally and I. We were looking through a file with…” She stopped and thought for a moment. “Fuck.” She jumped up and whirled around to Wally: “Wally! Did you check for the file!”

 

Wally blanched.

 

* * *

 

Duke knocked on the wall to the monitor room even though the door had already slid open. 

 

“Ha, I told you”, Supergirl said. 

 

“Kara, you know exactly that we couldn’t take the risk”, Babs said to her, then turned to Harper and Duke. “Come on in.”

 

“Hi”, Supergirl said to them and started walking towards the door. “I’ll say goodbye when I’m done packing.”   
  


Babs nodded at her, then looked at Harper and Duke who were still standing next to the door: “I have good news for you two. Green Arrow and Black Canary managed to find the attacker’s plan and neither of you are on it. Bruce wants you to stay up here, Duke, and would prefer that you do so as well, Harper.”

 

“I’d rather go back to Gotham and Cullen”, Harper said firmly.

 

“Then, he asks you to stay at the manor with Cullen until this is resolved. It’s safer there.”

 

Harper shrugged: “I’m not exactly gonna say no to living in a mansion for a little while.”   
  


“Good. Go pack, tell me when you’re done and I’ll transport you into the Batcave. I’ll see you at dinner, Duke.” Babs paused for a moment. “Oh, and if either of you see Miss Martian, tell her to come see me.”


End file.
